Trough separator with vertical classifying current



C. H. KEAR April 20, 1948.

TROUGH SEPARA TOR WITH VERTICAL CLASSIFYING CURRENT Filed May 9, 1945 3Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. cOHiERH.KEAR BY I a p April 20, 1948. i c. KEAR2,440,097

TROUGH SEPARATOR WITH VERTICAL CLASSIFYING CURRENT Filed May 9, 1945 3Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENi'OR. CO [1 ER KEAR BY flaw/ma, M-

ATTORNEY C. H. KEAR April 20, 1948.

TROUGH SEPARATOR WITH VERTICAL GLASSIFYING CURRENT Files. May 9, 1945 3Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. con] ER H.KEAR flMwfikar- ATTORNEY PatentedApr. 20, 1948 a Fl CE 2,440,097 TB'QUGH SHEPARAITOR WI'LH VE TEQNCollier H. Kear,

cmssw UER N adn ni iratris '9? s d ased errlice qn M y 1945, e ie! 5%???6 E a ne '1 This invention relates tothe separation of dis. cretemineral particles or pieces from each other by means relying principallyonthe different speci-fic gravities of such '}particles or pieces. Anexample -of such mineral separation is the'washing of coal in order toseparate the coal from the schist, rock,bone, ash and other impurities.in this applicationthe invention will -he described as applied to suchwashing of coal although it will be understood to be of general utilityin the-field of the separation voi minerals or other materials.

in mineral separation systems of the type to which my invention relates,a stream ofi water and mined minerals is moved along a .trough, forminga moving mass which :tends to become stratified with the heavier piecesat the bottom. At spaced intervals along the trough ascending streams ofwater are directed into the-trough, the upward forces of which are soadjusted that only the heavier materials sink ther'ethroug-h while thelighter material, for example the coa'l, :is passed along andout of thetrough. The units which direct these ascending streams into the chuteand receive the sinking materials are known as pressure' boxes orchambers.

It is the principal object of the invention to provide a :new andimproved pressure chamber for :use with such mineral separation systems,which will provide advantages not provided by known pressure boxes, forexample, more even upward 'flow' over .the area .of the orifice :intothe trough and more fine .and accurate adjust: ment of the force of theascending stream.

It is a further and most -.important .object to provide means whereby:the pressure of the as:- cending stream produced-Jay .each pressure.cham-. ber may "be set and adjusted with great precision to permit asharp separation effecting .adesired withdrawal. object of the inventionto provide separating apparatus comprising a, series of.spressuretcharnher which may be adjusted to produce ascends ing streamsof very accurately controlled and difierentiated pressures whereby ahighly seleutive separation .is .made as the mater al alanine treatedmoves :from .one ascending stream to the next.

It is a. further object .of :the invention to pro? vide, as a newcombination not. kno n 2&9 clihfi art, a new combination of :trough andpressure chamber producing new results not produced by known devices.

It is a still further .obiect :nf .-;th e ilttiention to As a corollaryto this, :it :is an the art, a combination of hopper and pressurechamber producing new results not produced by known combinations .-.ofsuch elements.

' A still further object of the invention is to '5 provide an entirelynewand improved mineral separating apparatus ofthe .descrlbedtype h veing an uziwardlmdirectedstream extendin 60.

tinuously throughout a substantial le th thereof, whereby the mineralsbein proce sed are subjected to-a continuous separation rather than anintermittentseparation as :in known systems. Other objects and featuresvof novelty of the invention will be made apparent. by the followingdesoriptionand :the annexed drawings which, it will be understood, areonly illustrative of the invention and impose no limitation ithereon notimposed by the appended claims.

"Referring to the drawings, in which similar reference numerals rater to:like parts,

Fig. '1 is a side view of a coal washing apparatus according to theinvention;

F 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 2 2st li'ig". 1; n is asectionai uiewtaken on dine 3-3 Figl d "is a view which is similar to 2but t lis ws ii lfi'si ions; or the invenjiiim qqnns cflisrsr nears eper i h h h s.

" View which is 1 9 la l 9 h tc l ba fl... rais ns were 9; rs.- 15

. a t d to. p uralit at been a new i9 2 b t aim. .o he avarice; I is aView l i sh ws the p essure 9. a 1 r9. Plastics wi h 2 c tiesg. i; showsin.

combination o a press re i19 an a slit new at e m e is v. v 9 h than 11is ,a .gr sgsegtional .view ta}cn on in? o Haiti; c ist amended v n ion'in ,iqb asqiifiiuuc, a n seiss tream trough for producing ascendingstreams of water 7 within the-moving stream of water and aggregatewithin the trough. Each of such means, as more clearly disclosed inFigs. 2 and 3, comprises a cylindrical casing' 6 which is axiallyparallel to the trough and abuts the lowest part of the lower edge orsurface thereof, and the interior of which communicates with theinterior of the trough through registering openings 8, It] in the two.At the lowest part of the chamber 6, diametrically opposite to theopening thereof into the trough are axially spaced discharge openingsIZ, l4. Arranged within the chamber 6 and extending axially andconcentrically thereof is a supply pipe 16 having an orifice IS in thelowest part thereof which is elongated and extends substantially thelength of the chamber- The ends of the chamber are enclosed bywalls 26,one of which is apertured to admit and sealingly surround the supplypipe l6. The supply pipe l6 is connected through pipe 22 (which is showndiagrammatically in Fig. 1) to a source of water under substantiallyconstant pressure, which is not shown in the drawings.

The supply pipe -I 6 is preferablyof such diameter and the orifice I8therein is of such size, all with respect to the total areas of the exitorifice 8, l0, l2, I6 that water will fiow from the supply pipe throughorifice 'I 8 and thence upwardly about the exterior of the supply pipethrough the elongated orifices 8; l0; thus producing an ascending streamwithin the trough through which stream the heavier pieces of theaggregate within the trough sink into the pressure chamber 6 and passtherefrom through the lower exit openings I2, l4. Means are provided bythe invention for adjusting the upward fiow of water through the exitorifice 8, I0 andinto the trough. Such means comprise an elongated plate38 which underlies the exit orifice I8 from the supply pipe and extendssubstantiallythroughoutthe length of the pressure chamber, which isdownwardly convex (or part-cylindrical) in cross-section and isvertically adjustable with respect to the supply pipe. The plate is;sup'ported'at the midpoint of its lower face on a vertical rod 32 thelower end of which is passed freely through the horizontal member 34 ofa Usshaped frame, the upper ends of the side members 36 of which arerigidly connected to the outside of the pressure chamber. A nut 38 isthreaded to the rod.32 and is connected to the horizontal frame memberwhereby rotation thereof will cause vertical movementof the rod andplate. It will be seen that by moving the plate toward or away from thesupply pipe l6 withoutreducing the flow through the orifice I8 thepressure or force of the ascending stream may be increased or decreased,thus regulating the weight of pieces of aggregate which sink through theascending stream. A very fine adjustment of the force of the ascendingstream is made possible by proper positioning of the balile plate 30. Inaddition the baffle plates of different pressure chambers may bedifferently positioned, thus causing a differential settling as theaggregate 4 stream proceeds from one pressure chamber area to another.

In order to provide an additional control of the size of the exitorifices l2, I4 closure members 33, which are preferably of invertedconical shape, are attached to or formed on the lower surface of thebaflie plate and overlie the said exit orifices Movement of the baflletoward and away from the lower wall of the pressure chamber will varythe position of these closure members with respect to the exit orificesand therefore vary the effective areas of such orifices.

It will be obvious that the movement of the bafile plates may beaccomplished in other ways than that disclosed in Figs. 2 and 3. Forexample, inFigs. land 5 the bafllle-supporting rod M3 is connected atits lower end to the outer end of a bell crank 42 which is connected atits other end to a shaft 44 which may be rotated by small increments toeffect vertical adjustment of the plate. The shaft 44 may be operativelyconnected to the plates of a plurality of pressure chambers in order tooperate the same simultaneously.

In the operation of a minerals separation system embodying my describedinvention the stream of material proceeding along the trough encounterssuccessive ascending streams of water produced by my improved pressurechambers. The water producing these ascending streams originates in aconstant pressure source (not shown) and flows therefrom through thesupply pipes '22 and I6 and into the pressure chambers 6 which it entersthrough the elongated orifices l8. In each pressure chamber thedownwardlydirected stream of water discharged through orifice I8impinges on the baffle 30 which directs it upwardly about the exteriorof the supply pipe and through the orifices 8, I!) from whence itemerges as an ascending stream within the trough. This ascending streamwill have a material length along the chute and adjacent streams may bespaced as closely as desired- The force of each ascending stream may bevaried by adjustment of the baffle with respect to the supply pipe, suchforce being increased by movement of the baflle toward the supply pipe.

Those pieces of the moving stream within the trough which are ofsufllcient specific gravity will sink I through the ascending stream,passing through the orifices 8, l0, into the pressure chamber 6 andpassing therefrom by the exit passages l2, I4. In the usual separationof coal from rock, slate, etc., the material discharged from orificesl2, l4 is'a mixture of coal and refuse. The pieces of less specificgravity in the moving stream in the chute will not sink through theascending streams and will therefore pass along the trough. In the usualwashing of coal such low gravity material will include the coal. Meansare provided by the invention for producing new and improved results inthe operation of mineral separation apparatus of the ascending currenttype which are in addition to the new and improved results due to thenew pressure chamber provided by the invention. I Such new results areachieved by the combination with the new pressure chamber of a troughhaving downwardly converging side walls at or adjacent the lowest partsof which is the orifice through which the trough and pressure chambercommunicate. In the preferred form of the invention the side Walls ofthe trough form a V, as shown in Fig. 2,- and the lower edges of theside walls are flush with the side edges of the orifice 8 in thepressure chambers and elsewhere form a pointed edge, as at 3| in Fig.-1. In another form of the invention, which is illustrated .in Fig. '7,the side walls 152 :are shaped to provide a trough which :is 'U-es'hapedfin scrossesection. It will heunderstoodthat myinvention isnot limitedto use of my improved pressure chamber with troughs having "downwardlyconver in sidewalls, and that this combination produces new andunexpected results in the art.

My invention also contemplates that the pressure chamber may not have abaiiie plate below the orifice in the supply pipe, and in Figs. 6 and 8there is disclosed such a pressure chamber in combination with aVeshaped trough and a U- shaped trough respectively. In all otherrespects the pressure chambers of Figs. 6 and 8 are exactly like thatdisclosed in Figs. 2 and 3.

The pressure chamber provided by hi in em tion may also be utilized incombination with a conical hopper or receptacle :66, as illustrated inFig, 9, being connected to the lower end,-or apex, thereof andcommunicating with the interior thereof through an aperture 62. In suchan embodiment the pressure chamber 3 is preferably spherical and thebaiile plate preferably-circular in shape.

While it is preferred that the axis .of the pressure chamber be parallelto the longitudinal dimension of the trough, this arrangement is notrequired, and in Figs. 10 and 11 I disclose an embodiment of theinvention in which the pressure chamber extends transversely of thechute. In such an embodiment the bottom of the'ilqu is preferably madewider than other cases in order to accommodate the lengthof the pressurechamber but, as in other embodiments, the walls of the trough are doiiwardly converged.

Means are provided by the invention f-orzproducing, in an elongatedtrough of the type and for the purpose to which this invention relates,an elongated, continuous, ascending stream having thefunctionhereinbefore described. Such means are disclosed in Figs. 12 and 13 inwhich there is disclosed a trough HI having an elongated pres surechamber 12 connected to the lowest part thereof and communicating withthe interior thereof through an elongated common aperture 13 whichextends substantially the length of the pressure chamber. A supply pipe14 is mounted concentrically within the pressure chamber and extendsthrough-out the length thereof and has a discharge opening 16 at itslowest part. Spaced along the length of the pressure chamber are baffleplates 18, which are constructed, mounted, and operative in the samemanner as those heretofore described in this application. Outletopenings 80 are also spaced along the length of the pressure chamber 12adjacent the baffle plates and are controlled, as to size of opening, byconical members on the lower sides of the baflles.

It will be apparent that in the form of invention disclosed in Figs. 12and 13 an elongated, continuous ascending stream will be produced in thechute 10 throughout the entire length of the common aperture between thepressure chamber and trough. This ascending stream is of substantiallength, whereby a continuous, elongated ascending stream is producedwithin the material in the trough. The ascending stream may be given thesame force throughout its length by adjusting the bafiles equivalentlywith respect to the supply pipe or, alternatively, difierent parts ofthe ascending stream may be given greater or less force than other partsby differential adjustment of the baflies.

Air and other liquids than water are sometimes 6 used in processes .andapparatus of the type to whichthe invention relates and it will beundere stood that the term water asused herein includes any gas orliquid or any mixture of gas and liquid.

It is believed that the operation of the apparatus, devices andcombinations provided by my invention will be apparent and no furtherdescrip-v tion thereof is believed to be necessary. While I havedescribed and illustrated certain embodiments of my invention, it willbe apparent to those skilled in the art that other embodiments, as wellas modifications of those disclosed, may be made without departing fromthe spirit or scope of the invention, for the limits of which referencemust be had to the appended claims.

I claim:

'1. Apparatus for connection to the apertured lower part of a receptaclewhich is adapted to receive an aggregate of pieces having diiferentspecificgravities andfor producingin suchreceptacle :an ascending streamof water, comprising a closed chamber having an aperture in the upperpartthereof adapted to register with the aperture in the lower part ofthe receptacle and having at least one exit orifice in the lower ,partthereof, water supply means extending into the closed chamber and havingan aperture in the lower part thereof below the-aperture in the upperpart of the chamber, a plate positioned within "the chamber below theaperture in the Water supply means whereby .a stream of water dischargeddownwardly from-the aperture in the water supply means will impingeagainst the plate and rise about the water supply means and ascendthrough the aperture in the upper part of the chamber,

and for moving the plate toward and away from the water supply means tovary the force and volume of a stream of water discharged from theaperture therein.

.2. Apparatus for connection to the apertured lower part of a receptaclewhich is adapted to receive an aggregate of pieces having difierentspecific gravities and for producing in such receptacle an ascendingstream of water, comprising a closed chamber having an aperture in theupper part thereof adapted to register with the aperture in the lowerpart of the receptacle and having at least one exit orifice in the lowerpart thereof, water supply means extending into the closed chamber andhaving an aperture in the lower part thereof below the aperture in theupper part of the chamber, a plate positioned below the aperture in thewater supply means whereby a stream of water discharged downwardly fromthe aperture in the water supply means will impinge against the plateand rise about the water supply means and ascend through the aperture inthe upper part of the chamber, means for moving the plate toward andaway from the water supply means to vary the force and volume of astream of water discharged from the aperture therein, and means carriedby the plate and cooperating with the exit orifice in the lower part ofthe chamber to vary the effective size of said orifice as the plate ismoved.

3. Apparatus adapted to be connected to the apertured lower part of atrough which is adapted to receive an aggregate of pieces havingdifferent specific gravities and for producing in such trough anascending stream of water, comprising a closed cylindrical chamberhaving an aperture in the upper part thereof which is. adapted toregister with the aperture in the lower part of the trough and having atleast one exit orifice in the lower part thereof substantiallydiametrically opposite the elongated aperture, a water supply pipemounted within the chamber and extendin longitudinally thereof andhaving an orifice in the lower wall thereof below the aperture in theupper part of the chamber, means disposed below the orifice in thesupply pipe for upwardly directing a stream discharged from the orificetherein, and means for moving said stream-directing means toward andaway from the supply pipe to vary the force and volume of a stream ofwater discharged from the orifice therein.

4. Apparatus for the wet sorting of pieces of material which havedifferent specific gravities, comprising a trough along which a streamof such pieces is adapted to be passed having an elongated narrowaperture in the bottom thereof extending throughout a substantial partof the length of the trough, a closed chamber attached to the bottom ofthe trough and communicating with the interior thereof through saidaperture and being co-extensive in length with said aperture, meanswithin said chamber for producing therein a downwardly-directed streamof water of substantially the same length as said aperture and parallelthereto, a plurality of separate means within said chamber below saidstream producing means and spaced along the length thereof for receivingsaid downwardly-directed stream and directing it upwardly through saidaperture into the trough, and separately operable means for selectivelyadjusting said separate stream directing means toward and away from thestream producing means to thereby differentially vary the force of theascending stream at different points along the length of the trough.

5. Apparatus for connection to the apertured lower part of a, troughwhich is adapted to receive an aggregate of pieces having differentspecific gravities and for producing in such trough an ascending streamof water, comprising a closed cylindrical chamber attached to the lowerpart of the trough and having an aperture in the upper part thereofadapted to register with the aperture in the lower part of the troughand having at least one discharge opening in the lower part thereof, acylindrical conduit extending into the chamber and being concentric withand smaller in diameter than the chamber, said conduit having an orificein the lowest part thereof substantially vertically below said aperture,and means below the orifice in the conduit for receiving adownwardly-directed stream from said orifice and directing it upwardlyabout both sides of said conduit and through said aperture into thetrough.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, in which the means for receiving thedownwardly-directed stream and directing it upwardly is the innersurface of the lower part of the cylindrical chamber.

COLLIER H. KEAR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 478,971 Simonton July 12, 1892519,245 Dorr May 1 1894 631,411 Sody Aug. 22, 1899 771,874 Grant Oct.11, 1904 1,580,728 Hodeige Apr. 13, 1926 1,696,767 Hoyois Dec. 25, 19281,170,848 Richards Feb. 8, 1916 1,752,791 Fahrenwald Apr. 1, 1930FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 93,480 Switzerland Mar.16, 1922

